Many think airline pilot s navigate using instruments only at night and during inclement weather. Truth is, we use instruments most of the time: inertial navigation systems, GPS and ground-based navigation devices, to name a few.

During pre-flight, our self-briefing includes weather consultation found on dedicated websites, flight plans and our iPads. Weather radar, which detects rain, is always on, giving pilot s a heads-up  about inclement weather.

For most landings, we descend via the ILS that guides us to the runway. Even for low visibilities, Air Canada's fleet is equipped with autoland capability.

Soon, the Internet will be part of flight-deck operations, allowing us to surf weather reports from up in the air.

This article originally appeared in the November 2017 edition of Air Canada’s enRoute Magazine as Takeoff with Captain Doug.